A story has been shared about a woman in her 30s who is struggling due to her in-laws' obsession with superstitions, including buying talismans to have a son.
On the 22nd, JTBC's 'Sageon Banjang' aired the story of A, a pregnant woman in her 30s who has been married for five years. A expressed that she is under severe stress because her in-laws excessively believe in superstitions. She said, "When I visit my in-laws after a long time, instead of welcoming me, they tell me to go to the bathroom and shake off my clothes. They say I might have brought in negative energy from outside, so I need to shake it off." She added, "If I cross my legs, they say 'our son's work will get tangled,' so they tell me to uncross them."
It wasn't just that. When A and her husband succeeded in conceiving through IVF, her in-laws claimed it was due to their prayers reaching heaven and took credit for it. One day, her in-laws urgently called A and asked her to send 1 million won, saying it was for something important, and then bought a 'talisman for having a son.'
When A said she wanted to eat spicy braised chicken (Dakbokkeumtang), her in-laws discouraged her, saying, "If you eat chicken or duck, the baby will be born with chicken skin." They also pressured her not to attend funerals, saying it would bring bad luck, and told her to avoid being near sick people.
After the fetus was confirmed to be female, her in-laws did not hide their disappointment, saying, "The prayers were insufficient." A said, "They were confident that the baby in my womb would be a son because they had spent a lot of money praying. But the test results showed it was a girl." She continued, "They looked stunned and blamed themselves, saying 'the prayers were insufficient.' I was very disappointed in my in-laws."
The in-laws' disappointment did not stop there. A recounted that when she answered her mother-in-law's call, she was told, "I visited a powerful shaman, and they said if you have a daughter, our son's life will be completely ruined. He will work himself to death and never save a penny. Two women will devour my son." A said, "When my husband got angry, the in-laws' contact became scarce. After that, we received baby supplies from acquaintances." However, she added, "When my in-laws saw these, they angrily shouted, 'Do you know what kind of person the ancestor of the child who used those is? What if they cling to our son and torment him?'"
Before the Lunar New Year holiday, A's father-in-law asked her, "I know it's hard for you to come because you're heavy, but I prepared a gift for my soon-to-be-born grandchild, so I hope you come to the in-laws' house." However, the gift he prepared was the date and time of the baby's birth. Moreover, he insisted that he should be the one to name the grandchild. A said, "I have dreamed of naming the baby since before. I was thinking about giving a beautiful name, but because of my in-laws' fate-telling and superstitions, I can't even do that now." She asked for advice, saying, "How should I refuse?"
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